Neverware now part of Google

[fiza]

Looks like Google have bought Neverware cloudready.

 

https://cloudreadykb.neverware.com/s/article/Neverware-is-now-part-of-Google-FAQ

[DJ-1701]

Oooo, greater support then I hope.

[DrCheese]

Oooo, greater support then I hope.

 

You've met Google right? It'll be on https://killedbygoogle.com/ fairly soon..

[FN-GM]

This will either be:

1. Great News

2. A total disaster

 

I wait for the result...

[Jaan]

Interesting, hopefully once they have made some changes, we'll be able to sign into neverware with a family link account.

 

at the moment the api is only allowed on official chromeOS devices.

 

i tried to install neverware on a old computer for my daughter, but i couldn't login with a child's account..... had to install ZorinOS instead.

 

hopefully they won't just absorb it!

[jthompson]

This will either be:

1. Great News

2. A total disaster

 

I wait for the result...

 

I'm of the same view, but as a former FriendFeed user and Pebble wearer, I'm leaning towards outcome number 2.

[JATSO]

Interesting, hopefully once they have made some changes, we'll be able to sign into neverware with a family link account.

 

at the moment the api is only allowed on official chromeOS devices.

 

i tried to install neverware on a old computer for my daughter, but i couldn't login with a child's account..... had to install ZorinOS instead.

 

hopefully they won't just absorb it!

 

Worked fine for my old Dell that I gave my daughter she has been happy with it for the last 6 months.

[Jaan]

Worked fine for my old Dell that I gave my daughter she has been happy with it for the last 6 months.

 

Really i did this last week. The child account is a family link account controlled by the family link app. is this the case for you?

 

EDIT: sorry it was cloudready i tried. not neverware...... my mistake...... need to use neverware then i guess...... they have a "free" version?

 

EDIT2: so it's the same thing from what i can tell....... no idea what issue i was having then!

 

here is the issue i was having https://neverware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360002553127-Family-Link-Support?page=2#comments

Edited December 15, 2020 by Jaan

[JATSO]

Really i did this last week. The child account is a family link account controlled by the family link app. is this the case for you?

 

EDIT: sorry it was cloudready i tried. not neverware...... my mistake...... need to use neverware then i guess...... they have a "free" version?

 

EDIT2: so it's the same thing from what i can tell....... no idea what issue i was having then!

 

here is the issue i was having https://neverware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360002553127-Family-Link-Support?page=2#comments

 

Yes that's right the free version.

[Jaan]

Yes that's right the free version.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]60199[/ATTACH]

 

So is cloudready and neverware two different products? i tired cloudready and wouldn't allow Family link accounts.

 

the below says it isn't supported

 

https://cloudreadykb.neverware.com/s/article/Does-Family-Link-Work-On-A-CloudReady-Machine

[JATSO]

So is cloudready and neverware two different products? i tired cloudready and wouldn't allow Family link accounts.

 

the below says it isn't supported

 

https://cloudreadykb.neverware.com/s/article/Does-Family-Link-Work-On-A-CloudReady-Machine

 

https://www.neverware.com/freedownload#home-edition-install

[Arthur]

So is cloudready and neverware two different products?

Neverware is the company that makes CloudReady.

[Arthur]

This will either be:

1. Great News

2. A total disaster

 

I wait for the result...

I bet CloudReady will be discontinued within the next 1-2 years. For each computer running the OS it means Google sells one less 'proper' Chromebook.

[dmj]

I bet CloudReady will be discontinued within the next 1-2 years. For each computer running the OS it means Google sells one less 'proper' Chromebook.

 

Google were really pushing Cloudready to schools a couple of years back, I remember seeing some email spam from Google about it. I can't see why they would increase the value of a product by endorsing it, then buy it, just to kill it ???

I doubt google make a lot of money per 'proper' chromebook, IMO It is the market share and 'google users' they are after. CloudReady provides both.

[JATSO]

Google were really pushing Cloudready to schools a couple of years back, I remember seeing some email spam from Google about it. I can't see why they would increase the value of a product by endorsing it, then buy it, just to kill it ???

I doubt google make a lot of money per 'proper' chromebook, IMO It is the market share and 'google users' they are after. CloudReady provides both.

 

I agree plenty of home users that will be using it, they will most likely want that extra paid for storage from Google now that Google is getting a bit tight with its storage allocation for photo docs etc.

[paulkerton]

I bet CloudReady will be discontinued within the next 1-2 years. For each computer running the OS it means Google sells one less 'proper' Chromebook.

Doubt it. It's a really useful half-way house for Google, especially when schools want to get onto the Chrome ecosystem, but can't necessarily afford to replace aging kit. £600 a year to turn 30 stale Macbooks into Chrome machines and use it as a gateway to converting further down the line? No brainer.

[jthompson]

Google wouldn't want schools' first experiences of running with Chrome devices to be a frustrating turn-off, which it conceivably could be if people are trying to do it on the cheap with ancient hardware rather than straight-up Chromebooks. I imagine that if they don't kill it off, the list of supported hardware may well not be as extensive as people might wish for.

[paulkerton]

Google wouldn't want schools' first experiences of running with Chrome devices to be a frustrating turn-off, which it conceivably could be if people are trying to do it on the cheap with ancient hardware rather than straight-up Chromebooks. I imagine that if they don't kill it off, the list of supported hardware may well not be as extensive as people might wish for.

On the contrary, Google want people accessing Chrome, and they want people to access it in whatever way they can. The move from old Windows kit to the same kit with Neverware is far less frustrating than sticking with Windows.

 

Neverware isn't designed to replace people moving to Chromebooks, it's designed as a stepping stone to move them over gradually where the finances won't let them do so otherwise. We all seem to be lucky that we work in schools where IT is a priority for them, but I've come across many schools in previous work where they have 400+ children and the budget to buy perhaps 10 or 15 devices at most. If they can stretch that budget over the 50+ cranky old Windows machines temporarily and get better performance, better battery life and smoother setup and configuration then Google have clearly recognised there is a gap in the market that Neverware can fill.

 

They've been working closely with Neverware for a long time now, including having them on their stands at BETT many times, and working with them when Neverware UK were Flint OS.

They also offer a Neverware/Education License bundle. Having worked directly with the Chrome team, the Education team and Neverware before and after it was Flint OS in the UK, they work very, very closely together and always have. This isn't acquire to kill, it's a strategic move for Education and Enterprise.

None of the behaviours I've seen shows signs of a company who are killing a product off, quite the opposite in fact.

Edited December 16, 2020 by paulkerton

[jthompson]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Given that cloudready is mainly about repurposing old kit that's towards the end of it's life, it'll be interesting to see how support end dates compare with regular Chrome devices. If a school is sticking cloudready onto hardware that's already 10 years old, say, how much time might that buy them before they start having to get Chromebooks in to take over?

[sted]

i wonder if the point of this is for when a chromebook falls out of support you can just click a link in settings and go into basically extended support no new features but security updates

[dhicks]

i wonder if the point of this is for when a chromebook falls out of support you can just click a link in settings and go into basically extended support no new features but security updates

 

Another discussion on this mentioned that ChromeOS updates might be being split up into Linux kernel updates and Chrome browser updates, so if hardware support ends you should still be able to get browser updates but not kernel updates. Not sure how accurate / practical that is, but it sounds like it would be useful, extending the useful life of hardware for a while. We've had no problems getting CloudReady installed on our older laptops, it's worked well on any hardware we've tried it on. From Google's point of view, I doubt they make any money off hardware sales, but they do charge for enterprise management licenses. CloudReady now have a pay-yearly option for that management license, so you pay a (reasonable) yearly fee to license both the enterprise-capable version of CloudReady and the Google management license. The home version is still free, though, which means you can install it on people's home devices if wanted.

[Zoom7000]

On the contrary, Google want people accessing Chrome, and they want people to access it in whatever way they can. The move from old Windows kit to the same kit with Neverware is far less frustrating than sticking with Windows.

 

Neverware isn't designed to replace people moving to Chromebooks, it's designed as a stepping stone to move them over gradually where the finances won't let them do so otherwise. We all seem to be lucky that we work in schools where IT is a priority for them, but I've come across many schools in previous work where they have 400+ children and the budget to buy perhaps 10 or 15 devices at most. If they can stretch that budget over the 50+ cranky old Windows machines temporarily and get better performance, better battery life and smoother setup and configuration then Google have clearly recognised there is a gap in the market that Neverware can fill.

 

They've been working closely with Neverware for a long time now, including having them on their stands at BETT many times, and working with them when Neverware UK were Flint OS.

They also offer a Neverware/Education License bundle. Having worked directly with the Chrome team, the Education team and Neverware before and after it was Flint OS in the UK, they work very, very closely together and always have. This isn't acquire to kill, it's a strategic move for Education and Enterprise.

None of the behaviours I've seen shows signs of a company who are killing a product off, quite the opposite in fact.

 

Pretty much what Paul said. The Neverware team have worked very closely with the Google for Education team for a very long time and they've been showcased at almost every Google event I've been to (and I've been to loads!) 🙈😂

Rumours of a Google takeover/buy out have been going on for years and if anything, makes total sense. If anything, this move brings potential for even greater support, which the Neverware team already did very well.

 

There are many, many schools where Chromebook purchases are next to impossible due to ever tightening budgets. Neverware is a very affordable stepping stone, whilst giving older devices a new lease of life.

[Arthur]

https://cloudreadykb.neverware.com/s/article/End-of-support-for-VBox-and-Flatpak

 

CloudReady will no longer support VirtualBox and Flatpaks after v87. We will no longer ship CloudReady with these utilities.

 

Both VirtualBox and Flatpaks were introduced before Linux (Beta) was available as a means to install additional applications on CloudReady devices. Moving forward we will focus on making Linux (Beta) work on more CloudReady devices.